Accepting the Story
by Diary
Summary: Smiling slightly, Justin had a realisation, one he wished had come a long time ago. Justin/Austin. Complete.


Disclaimer: I do not own Ugly Betty.

* * *

"Hey, where's your room?" Austin asked as Lily was busy going through the video tapes.

Justin hesitated, wondering if Austin would find his room to be too weird or boring or something.

Ignoring the hesitation, Austin simply started wandering around.

"Upstairs," Justin said, reaching over and grabbing Austin, who was about to open the closet hallway door, which was still filled with decorations. "I'll show you," he said, leading him up the stairs, not realising his hand was still around the other boy's wrist. "We'll be back in a minute," he called to Lily. "Make yourself at home."

"Cool," Austin announced, wandering around as Justin stood back, feeling nervous. "Maybe we should watch the DVDs up here."

"I'm not allowed to have boys in my room with the door closed," Justin quickly protested, forgetting that he didn't have a DVD player in his room. The idea of Austin possibly sitting or lying on his bed should have been normal, he knew, but something about it seemed like it wouldn't be.

At Austin's look, Justin shrugged. "I told you, everyone either wonders or think they know, my mother included. When Randy came over, Granddad told me to keep the door open. After my mom talked to Randy, she let us close the door, but I'm not really sure why."

"Alright," Austin agreed, opening the closet. "So, if you go over to my house, does that mean I have to keep my door open?"

"Only if your dad says you have to," Justin answered, trying to keep thoughts of Austin's room out of his head. He'd probably have X-Files posters, weird crystals, and Star Wars or Star Trek sheets, with maybe a few sports-related stuff.

Seeing Austin was about to sit on the bed, Justin said, "We should get back to Lily."

Shaking his head, Austin said, "You know, just because you have a VCR and a DVR, that doesn't mean she's going to fall in love with you."

"We're fifteen," Justin answered as they left. "'Love' at fifteen gets girls pregnant. I'm just hoping she'll go out with me."

"Yeah, if you do that to her, I don't think we can be friends."

Justin laughed. "You not being my friend would be the least of my worries. My mother would literally take a pair of scissors to my throat. Before or after Granddad throws me out of the house is really the only question."

"He'd do that?"

"Changing the subject," Justin said, firmly, not wanting to get into the story of how his father had left his pregnant, teenage mother and how even his dad dying a hero hadn't redeemed him in Granddad's eyes.

Back down stairs, Lily said, "Hey, why don't we practise acting in the real world?"

"That sounds like it could be cool," Austin said, sitting down next to her on the floor. He reached over and picked a piece of fuzz out of her hair. "What'd you have in mind?"

Rolling his eyes, Justin walked over to the couch and sat down. If his foot happened to accidentally make contact with Austin's back, well, accidents sometimes happened. Not that it mattered. Austin gave no reaction, simply helping Lily put the movies back up.

"In my criminal justice class, the teacher explained how some kids would help officers by trying to buy cigarettes and alcohol. If the cashier sold it to them, they were arrested for not I. them. I thought we could see if we could convince a cashier to sell us something like that. Of course, we wouldn't tell on them."

"Could be fun," Austin said. Turning, he asked, "What do you think?"

"Yeah, that sounds awesome," Justin said. "But we can't do it in this neighbourhood. Everyone around here knows my mom."

"We could call our parents, see if they'll let us ride the subway," Lily suggested.

"Okay. You two call yours, and I'll call my mom."

After the parents are called, Austin glared at Lily, causing her to defend herself, "My dad has a flamethrower, and he will use it if he ever found out I wandered around the city with two boys!"

"Fair enough, but you couldn't have tried harder to mind a feminine counterpoint to my name? Tina, really?"

When Justin laughed, Austin said, "Oh, shut up, Justine." To Lily, "You couldn't have called him Tina, short for Justina? You couldn't have called him Jessie? Why am I the one with a completely feminine fictional name?"

"If I promise to buy you a container of strawberry-banana ice-cream, will you drop it," Justin asked, suddenly feeling very happy. He knew everyone occasionally had dramatic moments, but until then, he'd never seen Austin overreact to anything unless he was actually acting. Even then, Austin was a good enough actor that he never overacted.

"Fine," Austin agreed, still glaring at both of them.

On the subway, the three of them took turns singing New York, New York, causing the expected comments, glares, and sporadic applause.

They went to several different stores, making a note of each one that refused to sell to them. Then, they came to a store, and as soon as Justin saw the cashier, he grabbed Austin, who was heading towards the beer, by the back of the boy's jacket collar and hissed, "Lily!" She turned and walked back over to them. "We're leaving," he said, trying to drag both of them out the door. "Now."

"Justin Suarez?"

Crap, he thought, as the three turned around.

"I haven't seen you around in a long time," the man noted.

"Yeah, after what happened, this place is hard to be around," Justin said, apologetically. He deliberately did not meet the eyes of his curious friends.

The man nodded in understanding. "He was a hero. Did you and your friends not find what you were looking for?"

"Actually," Austin said, causing Justin to silently pray, although, he wasn't sure for what, "we've been comparing prices for the end of the year party our drama class is having. Everyone wants different things, like Justin wants frozen raspberry yoghurt, Lily wants brownies with white icing, and I want strawberry-banana ice-cream. One boy even wants pickled prunes, which, strangely enough, we haven't been able to find. We've been recording the prices on my cell phone. Is that alright? I haven't taken any pictures."

Justin let out a silent sigh of relief and hoped that his and Lily's faces matched Austin's sincere, earnest one. He knew he owed Austin, big time, but at that moment, he was too grateful to care.

"That's okay," the man said, somewhat bemused. "Come with me."

He retrieved the three items, bagged them, and handed them to Justin. "Tell your teacher to come talk to me; I'm sure we can work out a suitable discount."

"I can pay," Justin insisted, digging out his wallet.

"Just don't let the ice-cream melt while you and your friends are out," the man said. Softly, he said, "Your father would be happy to see you've made such nice friends."

He was going to insist on paying, but Lily gently tugged his arm. "Come on," she said, carefully. "Let's go. Thank you, sir," she said to the cashier.

"Yeah, thank you," Austin said, taking the bag from Justin.

They left, and Justin automatically said, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," Austin agreed. "Do you want to go home?"

"No, let's hit the rest of the stores in the neighbourhood," he answered. "The ice-cream will be fine."

At the second-to-last store, they managed to convince the cashier that Austin was eighteen, but not twenty-one.

Then, after snacks, Lily said, "I wonder what it's like to smoke. My sister smoked for eight years, but then, she quit. She kind of treats it like recovering alcoholics do, counting the days since her last one."

"Maybe we could try it," Justin suggested.

Shaking his head, Austin said, "Count me out. My dad would know, and he would lock me in our attic."

"That doesn't sound so-"

"Our attic is three feet tall, has no electricity, and is occasionally invaded by squirrels. I'm not sure, but I think it has a weight limit of under a hundred pounds."

"Yeah, you better not risk it," Lily agreed. "But I think I want to try it."

He knew it was stupid. More than that, the thought of smoking filled him with the same fear and dread drinking milk straight out of the bottle had, but Austin refused to do it, and he thought he and Lily could bond over their shared rebellion.

It was predictably horrible.

Lily almost choked, Justin's eyes turned red and teary, and Austin made tea for her and helped Justin apply eye drops. He dug out mints for both of them to chew after they'd brushed, flossed, and rinsed their teeth with mouthwash. Then, he helped carry candles around to get rid of the smell.

In the end, he was the hero Lily clung to, and Justin knew something even worse would come out of the experience.

…

The next night, the house caught on fire, and he found himself huddled with his family outside, watching the flames.

"It's okay, honey," his mother whispered. "Are you sure you're not hurt?"

"I'm fine, Mom," he assured her, wondering if it was the smoking or the fact he'd managed to unintentionally use his father's death to get yoghurt, ice-cream, and brownies that was responsible. "I'm sorry about this."

"Don't worry, mijo," his grandfather said, kissing his head, pulling him into a hug. "This isn't your fault. I know this is going to be the hardest for you, but I promise, everything will get back to normal soon enough."

Sometimes, Justin really wished he was born into a less doting family.

Every time there was a crisis, no matter what everyone else was going through, he always found himself the centre of their worry. Looking back, he realised that even after his father was killed and he felt all alone that his aunt had tried her best to keep him okay. Now, everyone wanted to make he was eating enough, that the couch was comfortable and warm enough, that he wasn't having nightmares, and so on.

The problem was that he was the one responsible for his grandfather sleeping on a cot while his mother and Aunt Betty shared a bed. He was the one who made it so that there was never enough room for everyone to move around, that his grandpa didn't have enough cooking space, and that everyone had to feel so self-conscious when they needed to take a shower.

He didn't go to school on Monday, and that night he checked his messages.

"Hey, this is Austin. I heard what happened. If you need to, you could sleep over at my house for a few days. Um, let me know if there's anything I can do, and call me, okay? I mean, if you're dead or majorly disfigured, I need to know so I can start preparing for the role of Jon Pierre."

"Austin and I just heard what happened. Are you okay? Call me as soon as you get this."

Smiling, he called Lily, first. "I'm fine," he promised. "I'll be back in class in a day or two."

"Okay," she said. "But if there's anything I can do, tell me."

"I will," he said. "Thanks, Lily."

"No problem. Do you think you could do me a favour?"

"Sure, anything," he answered, surprised but happy.

"Call Austin before he has a heart attack. He kept pacing during class; I know you two like to compete against each other and there's a whole set of rules for boy friendships, but he's worried about you."

"Sure," he answered, wondering why Austin's stupid, stomach-turning grin was suddenly flashing through his mind. He refused to acknowledge that he was happy about Austin worrying about him.

…

"You do realise that if I were dead, I couldn't be able to call you back, right," he asked when Austin answered the phone.

"Hey, I don't make fun of any religious beliefs you may or may not have, so, you shouldn't make fun of my belief in zombies. Are you a zombie?"

"No! And there is absolutely no way I'm letting you take the Pierre role."

"So, you and your family are all okay, then? None of them are zombies?"

"Okay, if you bring another comic book to class, I'm confiscating it. And, yeah. My mom's freaking out about her salon, my aunt is trying her best to stay positive about the three people crashing her one-bedroom, one half-bath, long story, don't ask, apartment, and my grandpa is having trouble coping with not being in his kitchen. But we're all okay."

"Cool," Austin said, and somehow, Justin could just see his customary grin spreading. "So, I talked to my dad, and if you want to come over for a few nights, he's cool with it. And just let me know if I can do anything."

"Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow or the day after."

After they hang up, he found his mom and said, "I'm going back to school tomorrow."

"Are you sure, Papito?"

"Yeah," he said, sitting down. "I really like the new friends I've made in my acting class."

"Oh, honey, I'm so happy," she said, kissing him. "See, I told you: eventually, you'd find people who appreciated your specialness."

…

He went back to class, and Lily immediately hugged him. Austin stood back and grinned.

"We've managed to get most of the important stuff out," he told them, after they'd sat down, "but until it's cleared, we can't start living there again. There's been some investigation, and Mom came back to Aunt Betty's, throwing a fit, because apparently, they kept moving things and not putting them back, so, who knows where everything will be when we can finally move back in."

As tempted as he was to tell his family about Austin's offer, he hadn't. Austin was his friend-slash-professional and romantic rival. Staying at the other boy's house would just be too weird.

…

A few days later, he found himself confessing to the fire. Then, he found out it wasn't his fault, and he got off with just one night of punishment, everyone too excited about his mom's engagement to stay disappointed for very long.

After updating his Facebook status and receiving advice from Austin on how to ensure some bizarre supernatural creature didn't invade the wedding, he called Lily and told her, finishing with, "We're moving back in today. I'll meet the two of you, later, though, okay?"

After getting moved back in, he met the two at a nearby park.

"Guess what!"

Suddenly, he found himself being hugged by a bouncing Lily.

Tentatively, hugging back, enjoying the smell of her perfume, as he looked at Austin. The other boy rolled his eyes. "We have some news, too," he said, quietly, watching as Lily pulled Justin's head down and kissed him in the middle of the forehead.

Lily let go and said, "Lena gave you the part! I'm playing Beatrice, and Austin is-"

"Oh my God," Justin interrupted. "Seriously, I got the part?"

He looked over to Austin, who grinned, nodding. "Congratulations." He held out his hand.

Shaking it, Justin wondered why he and Austin never hugged. It seemed like they never touched unless one of them was dragging the other one or they were playfully shoving. Justin knew that straight guys did often touch and hug; he'd seen it plenty in both his family and in life in general.

He considered asking Marc about it, but Marc still seemed sceptical about him liking Lily. The last thing he needed was Marc thinking that he liked Austin, of all people. It wouldn't even the assumption of him liking boys that would be so bad, but just- Austin.

…

The next day, after class, making sure Austin was nowhere around, he asked Lily, "Hey, do you want to come over tomorrow and watch Romeo and Juliet? My mom'll be at Mode, planning for the bachelorette party and the wedding."

She said yes, and he was happy right up until Austin stepped out of the shadows. Justin was inclined to think Austin had planned that move.

"By the way," Justin hissed after Lily went to the bathroom. "That move by the doorway wasn't creepy, just annoying."

"It wasn't supposed to be creepy," Austin said, smugly.

"I get to kiss her," Justin pointed out.

Face suddenly blank, Austin looked down. "Yeah, and maybe, you'll finally be able to ask her on a date," he said, all teasing and good-humour gone.

"You'd just crash it," Justin snapped, remembering the taunts. _Or maybe, she likes me better._

Glancing towards the bathroom, Austin said, "I'm not going to ask her out."

"Really?"

"Really," Austin answered. "She's one of my best friends. But," he paused, obviously searching for the right words, "but I care more about the class than I do about dating anyone in it. If things didn't work, one of us would eventually have to quit."

"Then, why do you keep sabotaging my chances?"

"Justin, I've never made a-"

Lily reappeared, and Justin unpaused the movie. When both movies were over, Austin pulled Justin into another room while Lily called her parents. "I've never made a move on her. And no, me picking lint out of her hair doesn't count," he added, giving Justin a pointed look. "All I do is laugh at your idiocy and hang around. If you can't ask her out when me or someone else is around, that might be a sign."

Justin glared, hating when Austin was reasonable. He much preferred the boy who came to class convinced that a vampire was trying to get in his room and asking where a person could get genuine holy water. Sure, it'd taken Justin and Lily ten minutes to convince that him that going to church and trying to fill a spray bottle with the water from the baptismal pool was a strapped-in-a-straight-jacket-by-doctors idea, but somehow, it made Justin feel like he and Austin were more equal in general.

…

After the two left, Justin dealt with his aunt.

"A.B., I love you, but if I have to, I will have school security bar you from setting foot inside. You're going to that playwright's play."

"But Justin," she protested, "he's going to be with his mom, and I feel bad for mixing up the dates and asking him to go since it's on the same night as your-"

"Aunt Betty," he said, firmly, "you've seen me in tons of plays, and you'll see me in tons more. I'm telling you: You are not invited to this one. Okay? Go surprise this Zachary guy."

Smiling, she kissed him. "You're going to do great."

"I know," he said. "Love you." Then, he left a message on his mom's voice mail, telling her he was going over to Marc's.

…

"I'm freaking out," he told him.

Marc, sceptical or not, gave good advice, and Justin felt himself calming. After all, he'd kissed Tammy; he might have been horrible at it, but remembering how blunt she was, he felt that the fact she'd never said so must have meant something in his favour.

The next thing he knew, he was on stage, kissing Lily. It wasn't bad; she didn't taste like wax, like Tammy had. But he stood there, feeling her tongue in his mouth, his in hers, and he didn't feel anything but vaguely weird.

He guessed that was an even bigger sign than the fact he couldn't get up the courage to ask her out when there were other people around.

After the play, he just wanted to find his friends and hang out with them. He and Austin could keep their competition confined to roles. Maybe, with the Lily situation out of the way, they could start hugging like most friends did.

Then, he saw the two of them kissing, saw Austin staring straight into his eyes as they did, and he felt his stomach drop in jealously and hurt.

…

On the stage, he tried to figure things out. Austin might have been a cocky, vampire-obsessed basketball jock with an odd face and a stupid grin, but Justin knew him well enough to know he didn't usually lie. The only lie he knew Austin to have ever told was to the cashier at that store.

If Austin said he'd never made a move on Lily, he probably never had. And after seeing Justin kiss her, he could have changed his mind and decided to risk a potential breakup and asked her out.

"Hey, what are you doing? I thought we were going to hang out."

I thought so, too, Justin thought. That's all I wanted until I saw the kiss.

"You guys go without me."

Austin sighed, and Justin wanted to tell him to shut up. He still wanted to be friends with Lily, and probably Austin, but if he went, he knew he'd say something that would make them both angry at him.

"Justin, I know you saw us."

Biting his tongue, Justin repressed the urge to point out that, with the way Austin had looked into his eyes, that was the obvious statement of the century. He listened as Austin said they weren't dating (yet), and the kiss was about Austin getting to kiss her since Justin had his chance.

"Well, she seemed pretty into it," Justin noted, wishing Austin would just go away.

"I guess."

That statement made Justin turn around, something about it seeming out-of-place. "You weren't?"

"Well, it wasn't like you two on stage; that seemed intense."

Smiling slightly, Justin had a realisation, one he wished had come a long time ago.

He might never find a girl he liked; he might end up with a boy. He might end up with no one. But his stomach hurt, he had a headache, and some part of him kept insisting he stop saying things that weren't lies but weren't really truths, either.

So, he confessed that the kissing thing had went better in his head. Austin grinned, for once causing the sensations in his stomach to calm down, and they were pushing each. Austin complained about being blocked and said that everyone was already looking at him, any ways.

"You are so in love with yourself."

"Wouldn't you be," Austin asked, grinning, stepping so close to Justin that his stomach started to react, again.

He saw the grin, felt Austin's closeness, saw the other boy leaning forward, and then, he was being kissed. It was still kind of weird, but finally, everything clicked. He understood the big deal about kissing, saw gray behind his closed eyes, some part of him wanting to do it forever.

But then, there was a hint of tongue, and as good as it felt, he automatically stepped back, trying to regain his mental balance. Everything was too sharp and blurry and confusing, so many different physical reactions going through his body, so many feelings warring for dominance.

"I'm sorry," Austin said, quietly.

Justin wasn't sure how to respond to that, and then, Austin was walking away, and Justin tried, but he just couldn't find the words. He wasn't even sure what the words were.

…

Soon, he found himself sitting on the stairs, listening to his mother and aunt talk.

"Somehow, you've got it in your head that this is your story, but you gotta let that go," his mom told Betty. "It's time to come up with a whole new story for yourself. You are who you, and the sooner you're okay with that, the sooner that you see what I see, the happier you're gonna be. I swear to God."

Sighing, he went to his room and dug out a picture of his dad. "Um, hey," he said, softly. "I know I'm not twelve any more, but I remember Aunt Betty once told me it was okay to talk to you whenever I needed to. And I'm sorry I haven't done it before now."

Taking a deep breath, he said, "I don't think you'd be proud of me. Honestly, I don't think you ever were. But you're not here right now, and I'm pretty sure Mom will be proud of me, no matter what happens. So, I'm sorry, Dad, but I think I might be gay. And I don't want to tell anyone right now, except maybe my friend, Austin, who I think might be more than a friend, but I have to tell myself."

Shuddering, he put the picture away.

That night, he had a dream about Austin and woke up with sticky sheets. He'd woken up to them before, but until then, he'd never been able to remember any of the dreams that might have caused them.

His resolution was somewhat hampered by Lena announcing Austin had dropped out of the class.

…

"I'm calling him," Lily said, after class, digging out her cell phone.

"Um, Lily?"

Pausing, she looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Are the two of you dating? If you are, that's cool." Aside from the fact he kissed another boy, a voice in his head said, mentally slapping him.

He chose to ignore that voice for the moment.

Lily looked at him much as she had done when Austin had detailed his elaborate plan to break into a church to get the water from the baptismal pool.

"I saw you kissing," he said, quietly.

For a long minute, she just looked at him. Then, her expression changed. "Oh, that. You know that we're doing another scene night next month. Austin said he'd never kissed a girl and asked if I'd practise with him in case he had to. It was fun," she said, brightly.

"But you aren't dating."

Lily looked like she might say something, but instead, she just shook her head. "I really don't think I'm Austin's type." Then, a look of horror crossed her face.

Quickly, not sure if he wanted to say anything or not, Justin said, "He and I kind of had a weird, not exactly fight, but a weird interaction after the play. Trust me, you helping him practise kissing had nothing to do with him not being here."

"Are you sure? Because I knew the kiss didn't do anything for either of us, but I didn't think it was bad. We're actors. We're supposed to be able to do things like that and it not change anything!"

Rolling his eyes, he tugged her hair. "Lily, I promise you, this is between me and Austin. Go ahead and call him. I'm going to do the same, okay?"

Thankfully, Lily didn't get mad or demand to know exactly why their friend was suddenly AWOL. She just said, "Okay. I'll tell you if he talks to me."

…

That night, Lily called and said, "I talked to him. He seemed worried about both of us, especially you. But he lied about why he quit. He said something about family obligations or something, but I could tell he was lying. Justin, what happened between you two?"

Sighing, Justin said, "Look, I've got to go. I promise I'll explain things later." He hung up, hoping that he hadn't also just lied to her.

Putting his cell phone in his pocket, Justin went to his aunt's room. "Hey, sweetie," she said, hugging him. "Only a few more hours until they're gone."

"Are you excited?"

Nodding, she smiled, looking at the braces in her mirror. "It's scary, but I've had these things for so long. I bet you don't even remember me without them."

"Not really," Justin answered, sitting down. "All my memories of you, I just automatically insert the braces."

"Anything on your mind, kiddo?"

Justin got up and went over to hug her. "You know, Aunt Betty, I'm happy for you. But you should know, even though I don't really get your fashion sense, I've always thought you were beautiful. And I hope you've always known that."

Smiling softly, she pulls him down and kisses his forehead. "Thank you, Justin."

Nodding, he left the room, thinking about what to do, wishing he had some idea where Austin lived.

…

The next morning, he found himself babbling, "Uh, hey, Austin. Um, just leaving another message. Don't really know how you're feeling about what happened. Um, you know, the kiss. Maybe, you lost your phone or something. Uh. Don't really know; probably not. Um, anyway, you can call me back. Um, uh, this is Justin."

All day, that message haunted him, but when the doorbell rang during Betty's party, and he opened it to see Austin, who gave him a tentative grin, he was suddenly very grateful he'd left it.

Stepping outside, closing the door, he said, "We, uh, need to talk. Now's good, but my Aunt Betty just had her braces removed, so, she's eating popcorn and all kinds of other, really bad for her teeth food. So, uh, that's why I'm not-"

"Justin," Austin interrupted, voice quiet but amused, "it's fine. Can we sit down? Or take a walk?"

"We can sit down," Justin said. "If my mom comes looking for me, she won't care that I'm sitting here talking to a friend. But if I leave without telling her, there will be yelling, and maybe crying."

"Okay," Austin said, grinning a little more boldly.

"Why'd you kiss her," Justin asked once they were sitting across from each other.

"I don't know," Austin answered, shrugging. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm not sure exactly what was going through my head."

"I never really got the big deal about kissing," Justin said. "But then, you kissed me, and I get it now. You, when you smile, it does things. When you first came to class, you smiled at Lena, and it was so weird. Then, you smiled at me, and it was just-"

Covering his mouth, Austin nodded. "So, you liked the kiss?"

"Didn't you?"

Uncovering his mouth, Austin nodded, again. "Of course, I did. I've liked you probably since the first day we met. I mean, I thought you might be an alien or an actual fairy, and I'm still not a hundred percent sure that you're completely human, but you're cool and funny and talented and your smile makes me feel the same way mine makes you feel."

Smiling, Justin crawled over next to the other boy. "Then, why'd you quit?"

"Well, you seemed bothered by people thinking you were gay. I thought a boy kissing you might not go over that well." Leaning back, he added, "And I had a bad experience once."

"Bad experience?"

"In my old drama club, I was friends with this boy, and I really liked him. So, one day, I kissed him."

"What happened?"

Hand automatically going to his right cheek, Austin answered, almost tonelessly, "He punched me."

"Oh," Justin said, tugging Austin's sleeve until the other boy turned to face him. He studied the place where Austin's hand went. Carefully, he brought his hand up, tracing Austin's face, causing Austin to shiver, eyes downcast.

"After that, I tried to stay, but he told everyone, and suddenly, I was the biggest outcast around. Eventually, I just couldn't take it anymore and quit."

A feeling nagging at him, Justin asked, "Do you like me because I probably couldn't punch someone even if my life depended on it?"

For a minute, Austin looked at him in confusion. Then, he said, "He wasn't a bully or a super tough guy. We played basketball together and talked about comics. I know that what I did wasn't cool, and I don't blame him for punching me. Making everyone hate me- But no, I just like you because you're you."

"You should come back to class; I know Lena would okay it."

"So, we're okay?"

Austin's voice was tentative, and Justin wondered if everyone could just go back to like back before. When he thought about it, he really didn't want that.

"I don't want my family to know right now, but I don't want us to go back to like we were before," he said, looking straight at Austin.

"Does that mean we can kiss, again?"

Nodding, Justin leaned forward, eyes closing when he felt Austin's lips against his. That time, when he felt tongue, he didn't back away.

When they both withdrew, he took a deep breath, trying to get his body under control. Austin didn't help any by grinning beautifully at him. Until Austin, Justin had never thought of a boy as a beautiful before, but he was ready to admit that's what Austin's smile was.

Then, Austin ruined the moment by asking, "Oh, God, what are we going to tell Lily?"

Taking another breath, Justin said, "Well, first, we need to tell her you're coming back to class. Then, we can tell her together. I don't think she'll overreact or tell anyone."

"Right. So, I'll call her and tell her that everything's alright, and I'm coming back, and then, you call her and tell her we're cool? And we both avoid any probing questions until the three of us meet in person?"

"Sounds like a plan," Justin agreed. Leaning over, he kissed Austin.

When they broke the kiss, Austin said, "You should probably get back to your aunt's party. But we can call each other later?"

"Totally," Justin agreed as Austin helped him stand up.

He went back inside, sitting down next to Betty, who had somehow managed to get a Carmel apple stuck in her hair. From the kitchen, his mother yelled, "It'll be fine! We just need to find the peanut butter!"


End file.
